Data will help the Greater London Authority (GLA) serve Londoners better by powering the information in front end digital products that allow Londoners to make important decisions, according to the city's chief digital officer.
Theo Blackwell has laid out out what he calls a way of “joining up city data to build a better London for everyone”, following the publication last week of a new vision on how London plans to use data to help citizens.
This has been crystallised as a new Data for London (DfL) roadmap, which has just been adopted by the GLA following input from the Data for London Board.
Better value
Overall, Data for London consists of nine areas of work which will put in place the “technology, methods and capabilities necessary to use and create better value with data”.
At least some of this builds on previous work, says Blackwell, especially on the central concept of the older London Datastore, which has been operating since 2010 but has required a “rethink”.
Doing that has already been flagged up as part of the Mayor of London’s 2021 manifesto commitment to harness data and emerging technologies for the city by rebuilding the London Datastore to be a central register of London’s core data assets.
Specifically, the new Data for London platform replaces and upgrades the existing London Datastore and will act as a central registry of important data in London.
This, says Blackwell, should not be thought of as a central data lake or 'all you can eat' smart city platform but a place where users can more easily link to datasets to develop insights, products and services for the benefit of Londoners.
Helping users
“Like a big library book index, it helps users find the datasets they are looking for (although the rules of accessing may differ depending on the type of data requested and the body responsible for them),” he states.
The transition for Datastore to Data London platform is to be complemented by a general improvement in the way data is used by the city.
Blackwell foresees that “more often than not,” this will be done by codifying existing practice and consolidating the work of key partners such as the London Office of Technology and Innovation on data ethics and information governance and Transport for London on open data.
Those assets include at least 90 data services operated by City Hall and which feed into a significant number of projects, analyses and services externally.
In the coming months, says Blackwell, the office plans to posting progress on how its proceeding with the new platform build, as well as its plans for public engagement with the first ever London Data Week and progress on other areas of the roadmap.
